Talking exclusively to the Ayrshire Post, the actor - who has been starring on stage, screen and television for six decades - is a headline guest at this year’s Boswell Book Festival.

Staged at Dumfries House and now in its sixth year, the series of events from May 6 to 8 is the world’s only festival of biography and memoir.

Martin said: “I gather that the Boswell Festival is unique because it’s dedicated to biography and autobiography, which is an unusual idea for a literary festival, being so specific.

“But it’s a wonderful idea - and I’m delighted to have been invited.”

He’s more than qualified to attend the Boswell Book Festival, having written two autobiographies. The first, Acting Strangely, was published in 1999, a witty and entertaining memoir, and following this with Broadway, Jeeves? detailing his time on Broadway in Alan Ayckbourn and Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical play, By Jeeves.

Martin continued: “They’ve asked me to do a Just William performance, and a Wodehouse performance, so I believe the plan is I’ll be doing half-an-hour of each on the Friday, which I’m more than happy to do, and then on the Saturday morning, will be talking more about the autobiography side of things.

“When I was asked to write my first book, it had never occurred to me that people might be interested in my autobiography, but the publishers Methuen asked me to do it.

“I was rather nervous about it, and as it got closer to the deadline, I said to my wife Ros, ‘I can’t think what to write.’ She bullied me into it, starting with a blank piece of paper, and that’s how Acting Strangely began. This was in the late 1990s, and I did the first part longhand. I then got a bit of software, where I would read it out and the words would come up on screen on the computer.

“That, in part, taught me how to use a computer. However, I did have to go through the text meticulously, as ‘Martin Jarvis’ came up as “Long-term jobless,” and my wife, Rosalind Ayres, came out as ‘Wrestling Bears’!

“For the second half, I was able to write it straight on to the computer.

“After it was published, it was lovely to have some very nice responses.”

Martin Jarvis' television debut was as an alien Menoptera in Doctor Who in 1965

Martin's first TV appearance was as a Hilio, a butterfly-like alien Menoptera in Doctor Who in 1965, opposite William Hartnell. He made two other guest appearances on the show, in Invasion of the Dinosaurs with Jon Pertwee, and Vengeance on Varos with Colin Baker.

He laughed: "You know, you can never get away from Doctor Who! My wife and I were in America and we put on the television, and there I was in a repeat of The Web Planet. It's incredible there's still interest in it after all these years."

Since then, Martin has gone on to become one of the best-known faces on TV, having appeared in EastEnders, but is known to a generation for his memorable readings on Jackanory. He has featured in feature films as diverse as Taste the Blood of Dracula, to the multiple Oscar-winning Titanic, as well as voiceover work including Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph. He’s also an accomplished radio producer, especially with his Just William readings.

Martin said: “Jackanory was a great thing to do, as it got children interested in books and reading.

“On one occasion, Kenneth Williams and I read stories which had been send in by children, who had won a competition. That was a joy to do with some of the most wonderful, imaginative stories.

“In those days, if you were a success on television, you were invited to do Jackanory, and after I had been in The Forsyte Saga, I was asked in. It was always a great pleasure to do.”

Also appearing at the Boswell Book Festival this year will be Gregor Fisher exploring his extraordinary childhood, TV personality Lloyd Grossman talking of Americans on the make, comic Susan Calman revealing her inner life and World War Two hero Victor Gregg recounting his survival of the Dresden fire-bombing.